


i 






SERMON 



PREACHED IN THE BRATTLE-SQUARE CHURCH, 



ON THE SUNDAY SUCCEEDING THE 



DEATH OF MOSES GRANT, 



SENIOR DEACON OF THAT CHURCH 



BY REV. S. K. LOTHROP, D.D. 



E\\t Mature Christian ripe for tjje Starrest 



SERMON 



PREACHED IN THE BRATTLE-SQUARE CHURCH, 



ON THE SUNDAY SUCCEEDING THE 



DEATH OF MOSES GRANT, 



SENIOR DEACON OP THAT CHORCH. 



REV. S. K. LOTHROP, D.D. 



Hubltsfjcti fcg Request 




BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 

22, School Street. 

1861. 



4 



*>\& 



SERMON. 



Job v. 26 : " Thou shalt come to thy grave in a fule age, like as a 

SHOCK OF CORN COMETH IN IN HIS SEASON." 

Life — moral and spiritual life — is not to be mea- 
sured by the number of its years. Usefulness does 
not depend entirely upon length of days. The infant 
of a few months may have accomplished an import- 
ant mission. Through his smile while living, and his 
grave when dead, he may have dropped into many 
hearts seeds which take root, bear fruit, and adorn 
the character with the beauty of holiness. The old 
man, numbering his years by scores, the decrepitude 
of age marking every line and movement of his per- 
son, may have failed of the purpose of his being ; 
may carry into another world little for God to ap- 
prove and bless, and leave behind him, in this, less 
for man to cherish with grateful commemoration. A 
man may live long, and accomplish little. He may 
be called early from a short life, and go laden with 
a great wealth of goodness and of usefulness. 



But when a man lives long, and lives well also ; 
when his career, beginning in what is good, goes 
on to what is better, and, marked at the outset by 
fidelity in duty, is crowned at the close by a glorious 
and ever-increasing success in personal holiness and 
moral usefulness, — then we find that rare fulfilment 
of the text, which soothes the bitterness of bereave- 
ment, lightens the sadness of funeral obsequies, and, 
while it brings before us death as the inexorable 
reaper, brings before us also the Christian as a 
ripened shock of corn, and his departure as the 
harvest-home of a redeemed and sanctified soul, meet 
for the ingathering of heaven. 

The event which must give its tone and character 
to our services this morning is of this nature. It 
is a striking fulfilment of the text ; and, although 
I might find many other passages of Scripture that 
w T ould afford suitable instruction, I could find none 
more appropriate and descriptive. For we contem- 
plate not, this morning, the uncertainty of life, its 
shortness and vanity, the contrasts between the pe- 
rishable body and the imperishable soul ; but we are 
called to review a life consecrate from early youth 
to God and goodness, to the highest and best interests 
of humanity, — a life of great moral activity and use- 
fulness, protracted beyond the allotted period, yet un- 
touched by decay in any of its faculties, save at the 
near approach of death. We are called to notice a 



character, not without sign of moral infirmity, — for 
that would not be human ; but a character rich in the 
graces of a Christian spirit, temper, and purpose ; a 
life and character so well rounded and filled out in 
years, in faith, in patience, in gentleness, in charity, 
in usefulness, that we feel that the promise of the 
text has indeed been fulfilled here ; and that, like 
fruits to their ripening, like corn to the harvest, our 
friend has, in truth, come to his grave in " a full age," 
full in years, and full in virtues. 

But let us consider, first, some of the lessons of 
the text. Among them we may notice, first, — be- 
cause first and most strongly suggested by the com- 
parison instituted, — the truth, that progress is the 
law of the religious life. That there may be the shock 
of corn in his season, there must be " first the blade, 
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." That 
there may be the oak, there must be first the tiny 
acorn ; then the tender sapling ; then, after long pro- 
gress, the great tree, full of beauty and of strength. 
The physical law has its spiritual counterpart. Our 
Saviour compares his kingdom — the spiritual king- 
dom of truth and righteousness in the soul — to a 
mustard-seed, which is the least of all seeds, but be- 
comes a great tree, so that the fowls of the air come 
and lodge in the branches thereof. This same idea 
he illustrates by other comparisons, — enforces it by 
various analogies. Religion is a seed which Divine 



Providence plants in the heart. Sometimes that heart 
is a thoroughfare for the world, and the foot of the 
passenger tramples upon the seed, and destroys it. 
Sometimes that heart is sensitive, but unstable, — a 
light and stony soil : the seed germinates ; but there 
is no depth into which it can strike its roots and 
gather nourishment, and so it withers before the 
scorching sun of temptation and trial. Sometimes 
the heart is good and honest ground, and the seed 
abides, it germinates, its roots strike deeper and 
deeper : presently the plant appears ; the dews of 
prayer and holy meditation water it ; it grows strong, 
puts forth buds, blooms in flowers, and bears fruit a 
hundred-fold. 

But always progress is the law. In no case is a 
great permanent result suddenly reached. Never 
from out the depths of passion and infirmity in the 
human heart does the divine plant of religion spring 
to its perfection in a moment. Regeneration, if we 
understand by it simply a change of motive, feeling, 
principle, purpose, may be quick and sudden, a rapid 
movement of the soul ; but character, the result of 
fidelity to principle and purpose, is of slow growth. 
Many forget this, or overlook it. They confound 
the end with the beginning, the starting-point with the 
goal, of the Christian career. They welcome the first 
warm religious emotions of their hearts, as if these 
were the evidences of a battle won, a victory achieved, 



a passport to the kingdom of Heaven secured. But 
these emotions, failing to be cherished and ripened 
into principles, grow languid, and perhaps die utter- 
ly : the happiness of a religious consciousness withers 
in its spring-time, and the wretchedness of a barren 
and unprofitable profession is all that they expe- 
rience and all that they exhibit of discipleship to 
Christ. " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," — this is the law 
of our spiritual life, unyielding, inexorable. Let us 
obey it. Only thus can we meet our duty, and ac- 
complish the purpose of our being. Only by patient 
continuance in well-doing, only by diligence, watch- 
fulness, prayer, can we go from strength to strength, 
and so conduct our spiritual life as to attain in our- 
selves a fulfilment of the text, and go down to the 
grave, no matter how young in years, old in virtues 
and in godliness, like a shock of corn in his season. 

But, while progress is the law, maturity, strength, 
is the attainable end, of the spiritual life. This is 
the second lesson suggested by the text. If there 
must be " first the blade, then the corn in the ear," 
then there can be, there must be, " the full corn in 
the ear." That maturity, strength, — " the full corn 
in the ear," — is attainable, and should be reached, is 
as distinctly implied, as clearly taught, as that pro- 
gress is the law of the spiritual life. We are told to 
• ; go on to perfection," — "to attain to the stature of 



8 



perfect men in Christ Jesus." We may go on to- 
ivards, but we cannot go on to, that which cannot be 
reached. "We may strive to attain, but we cannot 
" attain " (and that is the command), to a stature 
to which we cannot fashion our souls. There is a 
strong implication here to which we must give heed. 
There is a degree of spiritual maturity and Chris- 
tian perfectness which can be reached, when sin, 
though not actually and absolutely banished from 
the soul, is subdued and conquered. It may strug- 
gle and strike occasionally ; but its blow is well-nigh 
impotent. It is prostrate beneath the foot of con- 
science, and in the grasp of that faith to which be- 
longeth the victory that overcometh the world. This 
maturity of spiritual life, whose emblem in the text 
is a shock of corn fully ripe for the harvest, does 
not consist simply in a readiness to die, in a meet- 
ness for judgment and eternity,- — the child, the in- 
fant, may have that, — but rather in a preparation for 
life, its stern duties and severe trials. It consists, in 
a measure, of spiritual knowledge that is no longer 
driven about by every wind of doctrine; in a firm- 
ness of principle and purpose, to which the test of 
trial and temptation brings, not failure and defeat, 
but the evidence of growing strength, and the oppor- 
tunity of continued usefulness. It consists in a zeal 
that is not blind, but wise and persevering, because 
calm and earnest ; in a love that is not feverish 



and inconstant, but warm, steady, strong, because, 
through a deep insight into the weakness of the 
human heart, it has learned ever to bow before 
God in profound humility, in a tender filial trust, 
and to seek him as the strength of the heart. Thus 
strong, — not in itself, but in the Lord, — the mature 
soul moves on through duty, trial, temptation, with a 
conscious purity of desire, purpose, intention ; not 
free from all sense of infirmity and sin, but witli 
a serene, tender, peaceful conviction that its motive 
is pure, its effort earnest. With that conviction, even 
amid moral failure and ill success, it can turn ever, 
as Peter did to the Master, and say, " Lord, thou 
knowest all things : thou knoivest that I love thee." 

Artists sometimes speak of a quality which they 
designate as repose. They pronounce it a quality 
essential to the perfection and beauty of every work 
of art. There may be splendid coloring in the paint- 
ing ; its outlines, the general grouping, arrangements, 
and details, may all be correct, true to the most 
established principles of art, and indicating high 
powers of conception and execution : yet it may fail 
to give the highest satisfaction and pleasure, because 
it wants this quality of repose. It wants something 
that pervades, unites, combines all the parts, beget- 
ing in beholders the idea of a complete finish and 
an unbroken harmony. In architecture, poetry, music, 
in all the higher works of man, there must be this 



10 



quality which artists call repose, in order that they 
may give perfect satisfaction. And thus, in that 
highest and grandest work that man can do, — the 
formation of his own character, the development and 
sane title ation of his soul, — there can be, there must 
be, a moral maturity and completeness ; a virtue, that, 
through strife, struggle, and defeat, conquers at last, 
and exhibits the repose of conquest and of strength ; 
a virtue, moral maturity, and heroism, so impregnated 
and pervaded to the very depths of the soul with 
the spirit of love and faith, that we turn to it, trust 
in it, rely upon it in word and deed, with entire 
satisfaction and confidence. We know what it has 
done: we know that what it has done it will do, and 
will continue to do. It is mature and established. 
There is the repose of strength and completeness 
about it, a moral grandeur, - — image and exponent of 
the heavenly and divine in man, — that wins our 
sympathy and homage. 

This moral maturity in the progress of the spirit- 
ual life is attainable. It should be striven for and 
reached ; and, when reached, the full power of reli- 
gion, as the pervading and all-controlling element of 
the soul, is displayed ; life has lost most of its peril ; 
death, all its terrors ; and the individual is prepared 
for either. If spared to length of years, these years 
find him — like the corn, which, fully ripened and 
loosened from its sheath, seems to invite while it 



11 

awaits the sickle of the reaper — eager for his dis- 
charge, and ready to crown the testimony of a good 
life and a noble character with the closing evidence 
of a peaceful and triumphant death. 

This brings us naturally to the last lesson sug- 
gested by the text. If growth implies maturity, 
maturity foreshadows harvest. The ripe fruit is to 
be gathered, the corn is to be reaped, in its season. 
Such is the ordination in the natural world : the com- 
parison in the text indicates a like ordination in the 
moral world. Such ordination, we know, does exist. 
We cannot live here always. A goodly number of 
years, a green old age, is regarded as a blessing, and 
is represented in Scripture as a reward. It is always 
venerable, and often lovely ; a glory and a praise to 
him who has reached it, especially if he be found in 
the way of righteousness. But there is a limit at 
which the blessing passes into a burden, and the 
reward becomes a trial. To have life prolonged after 
usefulness has ceased ; to abide in the body, after the 
body, worn and weary, fails in many of its functions ; 
to be a noble wreck, a stately ruin, of a man, with 
dimmed eye, closed ear, palsied tongue, trembling 
limbs, strength gone, memory gone, intellect so ob- 
scured that only now and then transient gleams for 
a moment light up the countenance with a glow of the 
former intelligence, and give to the words a meaning 
and eloquence which at other times they want, — 



12 

this is not to be desired. If appointed, let it be 
received with the grace of a meek submission ; but 
it is not to be desired. It is not the promise of the 
text. That does not say, " Thou shalt be spared, de- 
livered, retained from the grave ; " but " Thou shalt 
come to thy grave like as a shock of corn in his 
season." It is a promise of full age, but not of de- 
crepitude. We are to reach the limit, but are to be 
spared a long, lingering decay. " Thou shalt come 
to thy grave like as a shock of corn in his season." 
It is always " in season " whenever Divine Providence 
opens the grave : it can never be out of season when 
God commands, and the soul is ready for its depart- 
ure ; although, to our apprehension, it seems un- 
timely when death strikes youth in its promise, and 
manhood in its prime. We feel disappointed as 
well as bereaved. A great promise and power of 
usefulness are taken from the world, and taken ap- 
parently before their work was done. We submit : 
but submission costs us an effort ; it comes through 
struggles, and is wet with bitter tears. But we can- 
not feel thus when the allotted limit of our years 
has been reached or passed, and the soul is gathered 
into heavenly garners " like a shock of corn in his 
season." We miss it, we mourn for it ; but there is 
no bitterness in our tears. The declaration of the 
Psalmist, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the 
death of his saints," comes to our remembrance ; and 



13 

the comparison of the text gives to it a fresh mean- 
ing and emphasis. What so precious in the eyes of 
the husbandman as the corn which he hath planted 
and cultivated ] He cuts it down, not to destroy, but 
to preserve it ; and, when gathered into his overflow- 
ing garners, with what complacency does he regard 
it, as the evidence alike of his wisdom and his wealth ! 
Thus to the Great Husbandman, whose " field is the 
world ; " who sows the seeds of heaven, and watches 
over his thriving plants, and waters them with the 
dew of his Spirit, and rejoices in their growth and 
fruitfulness, — to him precious are the persons of his 
saints, — precious in life, precious also in death, which 
he sends to gather them into his heavenly garners, to 
rest beneath the smile of his nearer presence and 
more full benediction. 

Such, my friends, are some of the thoughts and 
lessons suggested by the text, which find their illus- 
tration and fulfilment in the event we are called to 
notice this morning, — the death of one of our most 
venerable and honored fellow-worshippers, the senior 
deacon of this church. His relations to us and to 
the community were so prominent, his character so 
marked, his public services so various, persevering, 
and useful, that I should be faithless to you, and 
unjust to myself, did I permit him to pass from among 
us without some special commemoration. 



u 



The late Moses Grant was emphatically a Boston 
boy, man, and merchant. Like his father and grand- 
father before him, he was a native of Boston. He 
was born on the 29th of Jnly, 1785 ; and wonld 
therefore, had he survived, been seventy- six years 
old to-morrow. Though not destined for college, he 
received a good early training at home and at school : 
and, after reaping all the advantages that could be 
had at the public schools of the then town of Boston, 
he passed some time at the Academy at Exeter, N.H., 
where he was in some departments the pupil of one 
with whom he was afterwards associated in the office 
of deacon in this church ; viz., the late Judge Peter 
Oxenbridge Thacher. On leaving Exeter, he became 
the apprentice, and subsequently the partner in busi- 
ness, of his father. Not long after the formation of 
this partnership, his health failed him ; and he sailed 
for one of the southern ports of France to try the 
effect of a different and milder climate. The vessel, 
intercepted and captured by a British cruiser, was 
carried into Cowes, Isle of Wight. As soon as ar- 
rangements could be made for the purpose, he left 
Cowes, and proceeded to London, where he passed 
the winter, having the best medical advice the metro- 
tropolis of England afforded at that time, but without 
any benefit to his health. Early in the spring, he de- 
termined to return home ; little expecting, however, 
to reach it. His brother, who accompanied him, 



15 

wrote to his father, informing him of the name of the 
vessel in which they should sail from Liverpool, but 
telling him that " the family must not expect to see 
Moses alive, as he could not possibly survive the voy- 
age." The prediction, however, failed of fulfilment. 
He survived to reach home, where, through a change 
of treatment, he recovered his health ; and, though 
never very robust, he was strong enough, through 
more than fifty subsequent years, for an amount of 
mental and physical labor that would have earlier 
bowed many an apparently sturdier frame. 

The partnership with his father continued till the 
death of the latter ; when, forming new commercial 
relations, he changed the character of his business to 
that in which he was engaged up to the close of his 
life. As a merchant and business-man, Mr. Grant 
was distinguished, I believe, for promptness, energy, 
a quick, wise, comprehensive judgment, and an unsul- 
lied integrity, — qualities which insured success, and 
soon placed his firm among the leading houses in this 
city and in New England in the department of busi- 
ness they conducted. 

But it is only to a comparatively small number that 
he is known or thought of as the astute merchant ; 
the active, energetic man of business. Chiefly is he 
known and thought of as Moses Grant the Christian 
philanthropist, who lived to do good ; whose time, 
talents, wealth, influence, were largely, earnestly de- 



16 



voted to various and multiplied forms of benevolent 
activity. In this respect, he has left a record which 
may well receive what it demands, — our gratitude ; a 
record honorable to himself, and a rich legacy to his 
children. For the last fifty years, we find his name 
connected with almost every benevolent institution ex- 
isting, and every benevolent enterprise attempted, in 
this city. Wherever any thing was doing to enlarge 
the means of education ; to increase and diffuse its 
blessing to all classes in the community ; to protect 
and benefit the poor ; to stay the swelling tide of 
intemperance, and consequent pauperism ; to prevent 
the wants or relieve the woes of suffering humanity, 
and elevate it to a richer measure of comfort and a 
higher standard of manners and morals, — there you 
might be sure to find Deacon Grant hard at work, 
giving largely of his time, his wealth, his personal 
influence and exertions. 

His services in the cause of popular education, and 
the enlargement and improvement of our public 
schools, would alone entitle him to grateful com- 
memoration. He was one of the original petitioners 
for the establishment of our primary schools, which 
were instituted by a vote of the town in 1818, and 
may be regarded as one of the most important 
and useful measures, in reference to public instruc- 
tion, ever proposed or adopted among us. He was a 
member of the first Primary-school Committee, and 



17 



early became a member of the Standing Committee 
of that body. For nine years, he was Secretary of 
the Standing Committee ; for ten years, Chairman 
of the whole Board ; and, for five years, held both 
these offices simultaneonsly. " His labors," says Mr. 
Wightman in his " Annals of the Primary Schools," 
" were arduous ; but by his prompt attendance, and 
systematic discharge of various duties, none were 
neglected : and, while he commanded the respect 
and esteem of his associates, his long experience and 
calm judgment rendered his services invaluable to 
the schools. Living, as he now is, in our midst, 
and with head and heart engaged, as ever, in the 
active duties of philanthropy and benevolence, we 
feel obliged to refrain from speaking of his public 
labors as they merit; but we deem it our province 
and duty to place on this humble record the evidence 
of his unremitting devotion to the interests of the 
primary schools, — a record," he adds, " honorable to 
him as a good citizen, and worthy the self-sacrificing 
spirit of the patriot and the Christian." 

Mr. Wightman then notices the fact, that, for ten 
years (from 1820 to 1830), Mr. Grant was absent but 
five times from the regular monthly or any adjourned 
meeting of the Primary- school Board. This fact 
is worthy of notice, because significant of Deacon 
Grant's character. He took no office as a sinecure, 
for the mere honor of holding it : he took it to 



18 



be active and useful in the discharge of its duties. 
Wherever he was, in the City Council, at the Board 
of Aldermen, a Director of Public Institutions, Over- 
seer of the Poor, Vice-President of the Farm School, 
President of the Howard Benevolent Society, of the 
Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, of the Mas- 
sachusetts Temperance Society, connected with the 
Boston Academy of Music, with the Eye and Ear 
Infirmary, with the Home for the Relief of Aged 
Indigent Females, and a similar institution for the 
relief of aged indigent men, — in all his offices and 
relations, wherever he was, he was there to work ; to 
discharge his duties faithfully and fearlessly, accord- 
ing to his best judgment. Of course, in thus dis- 
charging them, and for so many years taking an active 
part in our municipal affairs, and in institutions and 
enterprises touching so widely and directly many 
social customs and interests, he sometimes met with 
strong opposition, and excited ill-will in some quarters. 
That he made no mistakes of judgment, that his wis- 
dom was as infallible as his desire to do good was 
earnest and enthusiastic, will not be maintained ; but 
even those who most vehemently opposed him on 
some questions will readily admit the perfect purity, 
integrity, and benevolence of his motives. He was 
free from all self-seeking in his philanthropy. 

The public manifestations of this philanthropy, 
through the various channels to which I have alluded. 



19 



were equalled only by its efforts and deeds in private 
and personal ways. He was the personal friend, 
visitor, comforter, almoner, of the poor. They came 
to him for employment, advice, direction, sympathy, 
help ; and came not in vain. His door was thronged 
with them for some hours every morning. Indeed, I 
seldom paid him a visit at any hour, morning or even- 
ing, at which I did not find some of this class of 
persons calling upon him for some form of assistance, 
or see them depart without his having done some- 
thing to lighten their burden. For the last thirty 
years, he has been a sort of earthly providence to 
large masses of the poor and unfortunate ; saving 
many from moral ruin ; lifting them up from degrada- 
tion, idleness, and sin ; helping them till they could 
help themselves, and stand alone, and walk forward 
in the right path. The grateful benedictions of the 
poor are his heralds and witnesses before the throne 
of God. 

The benevolence of Deacon Grant originated in 
his piety. His love of God was the fountain that 
fed and nourished his love of man. He was em- 
phatically a religious man, with a firm, devout, 
earnest, practical Christian faith, that impregnated 
his whole being. He was well grounded in his reli- 
gious convictions ; but he cared little for the specu- 
lations of theologians, or the differences in creed, 
dogma, and form, existing in the community. " God, 



20 



my heavenly Father ; Christ, my Saviour, my Pattern, 
and my Guide, without his spirit we are none of his, — 
this," I have often heard him say, " is the essence of 
my faith." It was a faith that produced a noble cha- 
racter and a good life. His religion, though grave, 
earnest, devout, as it should be, was also cheerful and 
joyous. By those not intimately acquainted with him, 
not accustomed to meet him frequently and familiarly, 
he was misunderstood and misjudged in this respect, 
He seemed to them to present a somewhat uninviting 
exhibition of religion ; to be stern and austere, — the 
essence and embodiment of an old-fashioned Puritan. 
He had all the high-souled earnestness, and consecra- 
tion to duty and to God, that marked the Puritan, but 
not his austerity. He had large mirthfulness, great 
playfulnesss, of character. He had a keen, and, if 
need be, somewhat sarcastic wit of his own, — always, 
however, kept under due restraint ; and a just appre- 
ciation of wit in others. He delighted to see, and 
helped to make, the domestic circle cheerful ; and en- 
joyed to the full whatever might be innocently intro- 
duced to enliven the social intercourse of the family, 
and refresh the spirit beneath the burden of life's 
sterner duties. 

Mr. Grant early made a profession of his religious 
faith at this altar, where he was baptized ; and in 
May, 1818, he was chosen a deacon of the church, — 
succeeding in that office his father, Moses Grant, who 



21 



was chosen deacon in 1793, and held the office till 
his death ; a few months after which, his son was 
elected. For sixty-eight years, therefore, — more than 
one-third of the time since its formation, — there has 
been a Deacon Grant of Brattle-street Church. The 
fidelity with which the second deacon of that name 
discharged his duties, and the manner in which he 
has walked before this church in all holiness and 
benevolence, is known to all who hear me ; but bet- 
ter known to the poor of this church, of whom he 
took special charge, to whom he was a constant 
visitor and a faithful friend. About six months ago, 
— in January last, ■ — he was obliged to forego these 
and all public duties ; and from that time, with occa- 
sional indications of convalescence, giving hope of 
restoration and continuance, his health has gradually 
failed. The faith which had been the inspiration of 
his life made him patient and submissive in sickness, 
and peaceful and serene at the approach of death, 
which released him from the pilgrimage of earth to 
enter upon that " rest that remaineth to the people 
of God." 

Such, brethren, is a brief outline of the life and 
character of one who for so many years was an honor 
to this religious society, a pillar and ornament of 
our church. His name is now added to the list 
of our honored dead. He has gone to join the 
throng of the departed — the saints of many genera- 



22 



tions — who have " passed on " from this church to 
mingle in the purer worship of the heavenly temple. 
In the family circle, which he made glad by his pre- 
sence ; in the hearts of the poor, whom he comforted 
by his sympathy and relieved by his gifts ; in the 
associations of benevolence, which he aided by his 
wisdom, judgment, and varied services ; in this 
church, where he worshipped from his infancy, carry- 
ing the vessels of its altar for nearly half a century, 
— he has left a vacant place, but in many hearts a 
memory that cannot die. Gathered like " a shock of 
corn in his season," his departure is replete with 
consolations and incentives. For his life, may we be 
grateful ; under his death, submissive ; and, from 
both, derive a quickening inspiration to greater 
fidelity in duty! 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



The following Appendix has been prepared in order to 
present some details of Deacon Grant and his family, more 
minute than could with propriety be introduced into the 
preceding discourse. 

The family is undoubtedly of Scotch origin ; although the 
descent cannot be distinctly traced further back than the 
grandfather of the late Moses Grant. Mr. Savage, in his 
" Genealogical Dictionary," mentions four persons of the 
name of Grant who arrived at Boston between 1640 and 
1658 ; viz., Alexander, Edward, James, and Samuel. In 
addition to these, twelve persons of this name were brought 
to Boston in 1652, in the ship " John and Sarah," from Lon- 
don, — " prisoners gleaned on the fatal field of Worcester." 
From which, or whether from any, of the foregoing, the de- 
scent of the late Moses Grant is to be traced, cannot now be 
positively determined. The fact that the name of Samuel 
has been in his family for three generations — it being the 
name of his grandfather, of one of his uncles, and of one of 
his brothers — suggests the probability, that the Samuel 
Grant who came to Boston in 1640 was his first American 
ancestor. His grandfather, Samuel, — the earliest notice of 
w T hom that can be found is in the records of the New North 
Church, where he was admitted a member, July 23, 1727; 
chosen Deacon in December, 1742 ; retaining the office till 



26 



his death, at the age of seventy-four, in 1784, — may have 
been, and probably was, the grandson of the Samuel Grant 
who came to Boston in 1640. 

During the French War, a Scotch regiment, composed 
exclusively of Grants, — that being the only surname upon 
its muster-roll, — came to Boston ; and Mr. Samuel Grant, 
the grandfather of the late Deacon, gave an entertainment 
to the whole regiment,- — the officers being received and 
regaled in his house in Union Street, while tables for the 
soldiers were spread in his garden. 

The giving of this entertainment, in connection with a 
tradition in the family that some of the officers in this 
regiment were his cousins, has led to the supposition, that 
this Mr. Samuel Grant came himself from Scotland, and 
was the first American ancestor of Deacon Grant ; but the 
probability would seem to be, that he was the grandson of 
the Samuel Grant who settled in Boston in 1640. However 
this may be, he was a very loyal person, as is indicated 
by the entertainment to which reference has been made ; 
and by the fact, that as early as 1736, and for many years 
subsequently, his store in Union Street was known by the 
sign of the " Crown and Cushion ; " which emblem was 
engraved as a heading on his bills of sale. His son, how- 
ever, — the first Deacon Moses Grant, — was a great patriot 
in our Revolutionary struggle, and one of the famous 
party who destroyed the tea on board the " Dartmouth " 
and other ships on the 16th of December, 1773 ; as was 
also his friend, and subsequently his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Samuel Gore. In this work the party was organized in 
three divisions, each of which kept to its assigned duty. 
There was one division to raise the chests to the deck, 
another to break them open, and a third to throw their 
contents overboard. Ml". Grant's place was in the second 



27 



division, whose function it was to break open the chests, 
which was done chiefly by " catsticks " taken from a wood- 
pile close at hand on the wharf. Mr. Grant used to relate 
an interesting incident connected with this important Tea- 
party. The people in the neighborhood, seeing the fatigue 
they were undergoing, prepared and brought to them some 
pailfuls of punch. It was received courteously, but not 
drank. The pails were passed along over the deck ; and 
their contents, like those of the opened chests, poured into 
the sea. The patriots needed no such stimulants, and 
scorned to use them. The lofty principles, and the indo- 
mitable purpose in their hearts, were an adequate inspira- 
tion and an all-sufficing strength. 

Mr. Samuel Grant lived in Union Street, in the rear of 
his store,, — the {i Crown and Cushion ; " which emblem, it 
may be supposed, disappeared after 1776. After his death, 
in 1784, and probably for some time previous to that event, 
his son Moses resided in the same house, and carried on 
business in the same place. About 1790, he removed to a 
house in Court Street, the next but one on the east side to 
the site now occupied by the Coolidge House; having pur- 
chased the estate from John Singleton Copley, the cele- 
brated painter. On his removal to this house, it being 
somewhat larger than their quarters in Union Street, the 
children called it " Pelham Castle," from the circumstance 
that Pelham, the brother-in-law of Copley, had been living 
in it; and it was long known in the family by that name. 

About the time that he made this purchase, Mr. Copley 
wrote to Mr. Grant, urging him to purchase his other 
estate in Boston ; viz., thirteen acres of land, with two 
houses thereon, bounded by Beacon, Walnut, and Pinckney 
streets, and the waters of Charles River, or, as Ave often 
call it, the Back Bay. This estate was at that time mort- 



28 



gaged to Deacon Phillips, the father of the late Lieutenant- 
Governor, and the grandfather of the late Jonathan Phillips. 
Mr. Copley, unable to pay the interest on the mortgage, 
and fearing foreclosure, offered it to Mr. Grant for a sum 
amounting in our currency to about four thousand dollars. 
Mr. Grant declined, either because he needed his capital in 
his business, or because he thought it not prudent to invest 
any portion of it in what was then a waste tract of land on 
the outskirts of the town. This estate was soon afterwards 
purchased by the late Messrs. Harrison Gray Otis, Benja- 
min Joy, and Jonathan Mason, and proved a most profitable 
investment : so that Mr. Grant and his descendants missed 
a fortune, — or a misfortune. 

The Moses Grant of whom we are now speaking, the 
father of the late Deacon, was born on the 13th of March, 
1743. He married, in 1768, Elizabeth Brown, daughter of 
Samuel Brown, by whom he had one child, — the late Mrs. 
Elizabeth Snelling : the mother died a few days after her 
child's birth. His second wife, married in December, 1773, 
was Sarah Pierce ; and, in 1774, his friend and fellow- 
patriot, Mr. Samuel Gore, married her sister, Mary Pierce. 
They were daughters of Captain Joseph Pierce, of Boston. 
After the death of Mrs. Gore, which occurred in 1794, Mr. 
Gore married for his second wife Mrs. Susanna Seaver, 
widow of Nathaniel Seaver; and her daughter, Susan White 
Seaver, became the first wife of the late Deacon Grant. 
They were married on the 2d of October, 1814, on Sunday 
evening, by the late Bev. Dr. Charles Lowell. There were 
no children by this marriage ; but an interesting orphan 
child, a niece of Miss Hannah Adams, " the historian of 
the Jews," named Hannah Adams Fiske, was adopted and 
educated as a daughter. She became the wife of Mr. 
George K. Daniell ; and one of her sons is now in College 



29 



at Cambridge, and another has a place in the Department 
of Instruction at the State Reform School, Westborough. 
Mrs. Susan White Grant was a woman of refined tastes and 
literary culture, but an invalid. There were early indica- 
tions that consumption had marked her as its victim. She 
made a voyage to Europe for the benefit of her health, but 
in vain. Under the care of her brother-in-law, Mr. John 
Grant, she sailed from Boston to Palermo in December, 
1817, and passed the winter in Italy; but change of climate 
could not stay the progress of disease. She left Leghorn 
on the 30th of April, 1818, bound for Philadelphia; where 
she arrived on the 17th of July, and died there on the 
23d of that month. 

Mr. Grant remained a widower fifteen months ; and on the 
19th of October, 1819, was again married by the Rev. Dr. 
Lowell, to Mary Gore, the daughter of his father's friend, 
Mr. Samuel Gore, by his first marriage, and niece of the late 
Hon. Christopher Gore, Governor of the Commonwealth for 
the year 1809-10. By this marriage, Deacon Grant had 
six children, — one son and five daughters ; all of whom, 
but one daughter, survive him. Mrs. Grant died in March, 
1859. 

How early in life Deacon Grant began to manifest that 
philanthropic tendency which subsequently became the con- 
trolling element in his character, cannot be clearly ascer- 
tained. Born in Union Street, under the shadow of Faneuil 
Hall, he was early a warm politician, and gave his father 
some uneasiness by leaving his business to attend political 
meetings, and listen to speeches, in the " Cradle of Liberty," 
from the popular orators of the da}\ When he returned 
from one of these meetings full of excitement and interest, 
and was giving the family an account of what he had 
heard, his father's principal reproof or rebuke would be 



30 



to interrupt him with the inquiry, " Did you see Ben 
Andrews there ? " Ben Andrews was a quiet, sedate 
young man, very attentive to business, whom his father 
wished Moses to copy more sedulously. Though he never 
became a politician in the common acceptance of the term, 
yet, throughout life, Deacon Grant took a proper interest 
in public affairs, and was always eminently faithful to his 
duties and privileges as a citizen. He never held civil 
office, however, of any kind, except in connection with the 
City Government. He was a member of the Common 
Council eight years, — from 1835 to 1842, inclusive; of 
the Board of Aldermen four years, — from 1848 to 1851, 
inclusive ; an Overseer of the Poor three years, — from 
1827 to 1829, inclusive ; and a member of the Primary- 
school Committee seventeen years, — from 1819 to 1835, 
inclusive. 

The Howard Benevolent Society was organized in June, 
1812, for the purpose of affording "assistance to the desti- 
tute sick." The society soon attracted public attention : 
became popular ; and, with enlarged members and means, 
enlarged its objects, and aimed to relieve all classes of the 
worthy poor and suffering. It was incorporated in 1818, 
and received an amended charter in 1852. Deacon Grant 
probably was an early member or subscriber to the funds 
of this society. He was elected a distributer and a mem- 
ber of its Standing Committee in March, 1818 ; and in 
October of that year he was elected Treasurer, and annually 
re-elected till 1835, when he was chosen President; which 
office he held, without interruption, during the remainder 
of his life : so that he was forty-three years an officer of the 
society, — seventeen years Treasurer, and twenty-six years 
President. 

How early Deacon Grant became active in the Tempe- 



31 



ranee cause cannot be clearly determined. It was probably 
not till after his connection with the poor, as a distributer 
of the Howard Benevolent Society, revealed to him the 
terrible extent to which poverty is the fruit of intem- 
perance. His first earnest efforts in this direction were, 
it is believed, made in his paper-mill at Newton Falls. 
This manufacture exposing the men employed to be con- 
stantly wet, they were accustomed to drink, and often to 
excess, to protect themselves from cold. Deacon Grant 
forbade liquor of any kind to be used on the premises, and 
soon produced a complete reform in the habits of his 
workmen. The Massachusetts Society for the Suppres- 
sion of Intemperance, instituted in February, 1813, was the 
pioneer movement in this cause : but it was made by gen- 
tlemen who were Deacon Grant's seniors by twenty or 
thirty years ; and probably he had not at first any con- 
nection with it. Its principle also, to which it adhered for 
more than twenty years, was temperance, — not total absti- 
nence. More than thirty years ago, however, he was an 
officer of this society, active in executing the measures 
it adopted, and united his influence and exertions with 
those of others in leading it to adopt the total-abstinence 
principle : on which basis, under a new act of incorporation, 
it became the Massachusetts Temperance Society ; and 
Deacon Grant, at the time of his death and for many years 
previous, was its Treasurer. As an individual and private 
citizen, a member of Temperance Conventions, Chairman of 
Committees, officer of local societies, in every way in which 
his influence could be felt, Deacon Grant labored with in- 
defatigable zeal and earnestness in this cause ; was in favor 
of stringent legislation upon the subject, and of faithful 
efforts to execute the laws that had been enacted, especi- 
ally those in relation to the closing of drinking-saloons and 



32 



dram-shops on the sabbath. His labors in this cause, while 
they raised up enemies and met with strenuous oppo- 
sition from some quarters, were highly appreciated in 
others. Dr. Channing, in his discourse on the " Life and 
Character of Rev. Dr. Tuckerman," the originator of the 
Ministry to the Poor, makes the following allusion to Dea- 
con Grant : " If there is one of our citizens whom I honor 
as eminently the friend of the poor, it is that unwearied 
philanthropist, who, whilst his heart and hand are open to 
all the claims of mercy, has selected as his peculiar care 
the cause of Temperance." 

The Society for the Prevention of Pauperism was insti- 
tuted in 1835. Its purpose and character are sufficiently 
designated by its title. Deacon Grant was one of the ori- 
ginators of this society ; its Vice-President from its origin 
to 1845 ; when, on the death of the late Samuel Dorr, he 
was chosen President, and continued to preside over the 
society till his death. 

The Eye and Ear Infirmary was incorporated in 1826. 
Mr. Grant subscribed $1,000 towards its funds. He was 
chosen one of the managers of the institution in 1826, and 
continued to be up to the close of his life. It was through 
his instrumentality, and for many years under his direction, 
that a religious service was held at the infirmary every 
Sunday afternoon, after the close of public worship in the 
churches. 

The " Old Ladies' Home," or the Association for the Re- 
lief of Aged Indigent Females, was instituted in 1849. Mr. 
Grant was active in the establishment of this charity, was 
one of its original Board of Managers, and continued in 
office up to the time of his death. He contributed to its 
funds ; and, by his advice and judicious investments, these 
funds were largely increased. 



33 



A similar institution for aged indigent men was formed 
within the last year and a half, of which Deacon Grant 
was President, and one of the originators of the enterprise. 
At a meeting of the managers of this institution, held on 
the 14th of September, the following resolutions, offered 
by Rev. Dr. Bigelow, and seconded in some appropriate 
remarks by Mr. Nathaniel Francis, were unanimously 
adopted : — 

" Whereas it has pleased Divine Providence to remove by 
death our late President, Moses Grant, Esq. : and whereas, in 
such bereavement, we lament the loss of one of the founders of 
this institution, a warm and zealous friend of its interests, a gen- 
erous patron of the enterprise, a steadfast co-adjutor, — one to 
whose earnest advocacy of its claims, his subsequent active offices, 
his personal influence, wise counsels, and suggestive forecast, the 
public is largely indebted both for the auspicious inauguration 
and cheering success of the movement which has resulted in 
the establishment of this grateful shelter for indigent age ; and 
whereas, in the long list of charitable associations with which 
his name was honorably connected, — guided by his presiding 
mind, or conducted with his active, ardent co-operation, — this 
institution was latest in its birth, if not nearest his heart, of all 
which engaged his countenance and support, and is of itself a 
monument of his sympathies, inextinguishable, though in the 
decline of life, for another of the multifarious forms of needy and 
suffering humanity existing amongst us : Therefore — 

" Besolved by the members of this Board, convened at this our 
first meeting since his lamented decease, That we cordially unite 
in paying this tribute herewith offered to the distinguished merits 
of our venerable President, Moses Grant ; that we gratefully 
recall the valuable services which he rendered to the institution 
represented by this body ; that, in common with numerous other 
benevolent organizations, we mourn, by his demise, the removal 
of a philanthropist, whose labors in the cause of humanity, for 
the social weal, in behalf of good morals, and the general interests 
of Bobriety, piety, and charity, are entitled to grateful commemo- 



34 



ration ; and that we deem it not alone an official duty, but a con- 
solatory privilege, to record this expression of our sentiments in 
honor of his memory. 

" Besolved, That we respectfully tender the heartfelt sympathies 
of the Directors of this Home to the bereaved family of the 
deceased, in this hour of their affliction ; and that a copy of these 
resolutions be sent to the members thereof by our clerk, in behalf 
and in the name of the officers of this Board." 

The Boston Academy of Music, to which allusion is made 
in the foregoing Sermon (p. 18), was instituted in 1832, and 
was for many years a useful and efficient organization, whose 
influence in improving the character, and increasing the 
study and culture of music among us, was sensibly felt in 
this community. In its First Annual Report, it speaks of 
the introduction of instruction in vocal music into the pub- 
lic schools as one of the objects of its formation ; and it was 
at the suggestion and under the lead of members of this 
Academy, particularly of one to whom this city is indebted 
for many valuable and faithful services (Mr. S. A. Eliot, at 
that time Mayor of the city, and President of the Academy 
of Music), that the School Committee in 1838 introduced 
music as a department of instruction in the public schools. 
The old Federal-street Theatre, at the corner of Federal 
and Franklin Streets, had been long abandoned as a place 
for theatrical entertainments, and for some years used for 
various purposes not very creditable or useful. The 
Boston Academy of Music, within a few years after its 
organization, purchased this building, partially remodelled 
the interior, introduced an organ, and, giving it the name 
of the " Odeon," made it a very agreeable concert-room. 
By his own personal efforts, Deacon Grant raised a con- 
siderable portion of the money requisite to make this 
purchase ; and, in various ways, was active and useful 



35 



in promoting tho important objects contemplated by the 
Academy. 

The Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys, 
on Thompson's Island, grew out of the Asylum for Boys 
which was instituted in 1814, and occupied a building at 
the corner of Lynde and Cambridge Streets. In 1820, it 
was removed to the corner of Salem and Charter Streets. 
The plan of this Charity was enlarged, and removed to the 
island, and made the Farm School in 1835. In this enlarge- 
ment and removal, Mr. Grant took an active part ; and 
there were few institutions in which he felt more interest 
than in this, or to which he devoted more time. He was 
in its Board of Officers twenty-eight years ; having been 
chosen Manager in 1833, and Vice-President nineteen years, 
— from 1842 to the time of his death. The following reso- 
lution, passed by the Managers at the first monthly meeting 
after his death, shows their just appreciation of his services 
to this institution: — 

" Resolved, That by the decease of our late honored Vice- 
President, Moses Grant, this Board has been called to part with 
one of its most devoted and efficient members ; and the Corpora- 
tion we represent loses one of its earliest, most devoted, and most 
disinterested friends. 

" It is not for us to say that his place cannot be filled ; but we 
may safely assert, that no other one of our number has given, or 
could have given, to the concerns of this institution, the time, 
attention, and labor which lie has bestowed. His devotion to the 
interests of the school, his kind consideration for the individuals 
immediately connected with its management, and his ready sym- 
pathy with the parents and friends of the inmates, as well as with 
the inmates themselves, entitled him to our and their warmest 
gratitude, and should keep his memory ever fresh in our hearts. 

"Boston, Sept. 11, 1861." 



36 



The foregoing list embraces the prominent charitable 
institutions of our city, of which Deacon Grant was an 
active and efficient member. These, and others not men- 
tioned, he aided by personal labors and efforts in their 
behalf, and by pecuniary contributions : while his private 
charities were large and constant. In his Will, he left 
bequests amounting to more than twenty thousand dol- 
lars ; and embracing, as they do, societies in the hands 
or under the control of various religious denominations, 
they are honorable to him, as showing the broadness of 
his charity, and his freedom from all narrow, sectarian 
jealousy. 

Investigations made in the preparation of this Appendix, 
more minute than could be made previously, show that the 
statement in the Sermon, that Deacon Grant was baptized 
at Brattle-street Church, is a mistake. He was baptized at 
the New North, where his grandfather was deacon, and 
where his father worshipped, and made his Christian pro- 
fession ; and where, judging from the frequency with which 
his name appears on the records as a member of important 
committees of the church, and a delegate on ordaining 
councils, he was held in high esteem. At what time he 
removed his connection to Brattle-street Church, does not 
appear from the Records either of the New North or of 
Brattle-street. He probably changed his place of worship 
when he changed his place of residence from Union to 
Court Street. 

Deacon Grant had been so long prominent as a philan- 
thropist in our city, that various descriptive sketches have 
from time to time been made of him by popular writers. 
The following extracts from some of them may very pro- 
perly be introduced into this Appendix : — 



37 



" In consequence of the deep and active interest the Deacon 
has taken in all matters that pertain to moral reform and the 
public weal, and especially the Temperance cause, he is one of 
the notabilities of Boston. Notwithstanding he has been con- 
sidered ultra upon that topic, still he possesses the respect and 
confidence of his fellow-citizens. He is the prime mover of many 
operations for the relief of hunger and cold, and for the produc- 
tion of moral sunshine in the way of the path of the unfortunate. 
His handsome fortune is not hoarded for personal ease and repose. 
He, emphatically, ' goes about doing good.' " * 

" He writes a sensible letter ; makes a practical speech ; is 
peculiarly happy in his remarks to children, and always a wel- 
come visitor at all juvenile demonstrations. ... It is rather difficult 
to describe his person. He has brown hair, sprinkled with lines 
of silver ; blue eyes, thin face, cheeks somewhat sunken ; is rather 
under the medium size. He is of the nervous-sanguine tempera- 
ment ; has a singular habit of twitching the muscles of his face, 
and shrugging his shoulders, when excited ; often speaks abruptly 
when pressed with business ; and does not alwaj^s appear to the 
best advantage at first sight, but wears well, and ' improves on 
acquaintance.' In a word, he is a man of sound judgment, supe- 
rior business talent, a practical philanthropist, and a sincere 
Christian. For many years, he has been a hero in the battlefield 
of life ; and many Avould be willing to give a dukedom to possess 
the green laurels and golden honors he has won." f 

One of the last acts of Deacon Grant's life, having refer- 
ence to any public matters, was to address the following 
letter to the past members of the New-England Guards, 
who held a meeting on the 23d of April last. The letter 
was read by Colonel R. S. Fay, Colonel Swett in the chair ; 
and, on his motion, it was unanimously voted to insert the 
letter on the records, from which we have been allowed 
to copy it : — 



* " Names and Sketches of the Richest Men in Massachusetts. 
t Bungay's " Off-hand Takings." 



38 

" Boston, April 23, 1861. 

" Gentlemen, — In the present excited state of the country, it 
is not much that one of my age and infirmities can do ; but I am 
deeply interested in all exertions made in this my native city, and 
was glad to hear that the past members of the New-England 
Guards had called a meeting. I feel a particular interest in this 
Company, as I was the first man, with Lieutenant Blake (lately 
deceased), who called on Adjutant-General Welles to obtain a 
commission for the Company, in which I served as Treasurer for 
many years, and did my share of service. I served many years 
under Captains Swett and Sullivan, but am probably unknown to 
most of the present Company. I know the high reputation which 
they have attained, and doubt not they will continue it. I deeply 
regret my inability to take an active part in the duties of the day, 
having been confined to my chamber for the past four months ; 
and did hope to pass away without seeing this glorious Union 
severed. I have given assistance to several other military com- 
panies, and, should you stand in need, shall be most happy to do 
the same for you. 

" Your friend and brother, 

" Moses Grant." 

The above was probably the last letter written by Dea- 
con Grant. It affords conclusive evidence of the union 
of the patriot and the Christian in his character, and is 
inserted here as the most suitable close, that, in the pre- 
sent condition of the country, can be made to this notice 
of him. 



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